The Map that Leads to You movie review: Like Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani with a Schengen visa

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A still from The Map that Leads to You.

Heather reminds him that the ancient journal he’s carrying with him is essentially the same as a selfie; a time capsule of a certain moment, made eternal for future generations to admire. He doesn’t disagree. But there are certain beliefs that he absolutely will not let go of, no matter how deeply affected he is by this blonde stranger from Texas that he pulled into an adventure. But while Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy hit it off instantly in Before Sunrise, it takes Heather and Jack a little while to get to know each other. He shows up, uninvited, to a party that he’d overheard she was going to. They slip away, and agree to extend their trip to be with each other for a little while longer.

It takes them a Bollywood-approved amount of time to declare their love for each other, but, as you’d expect in a story like this, there’s a third-act twist waiting to pounce on our unassuming protagonist. It doesn’t make sense to reveal this twist here, but it wouldn’t take a genius to predict what it is. The Map that Leads to You follows every cliche in the book. But with these movies, it’s often about the ingredients and not the dish. A pizza is a pizza, but the congealed slab you get at Dominos isn’t the same as a hand-crafted Neapolitan pie cooked inside a wood-fired clay oven, is it? Or, to make a more appropriate analogy, a tubful of Biryani by Kilo isn’t the same as freshly made paella.

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A still from Prime Video’s The Map that Leads to You.

The Map that Leads to You isn’t as sloppy as the average streaming rom-com, primarily because it has been directed by someone who knows a thing or two about movies like this. Hallström is 80, after all. The movie isn’t filmed on a soundstage in Atlanta, with green curtains doubling for the Basque countryside. And Cline is a wonderful rom-com heroine; her performance feels lived-in, and she does little things that make Heather feel like a real person and not the figment of some man’s imagination. Like when she shakes her leg awkwardly as Jack goes off on one of his latest philosophical ramblings. While he tends to speak in bumper-sticker quotes – “Your thoughts create your future,” he says in one scene – Heather behaves like a person you might actually bump into on a vacation somewhere. Or, you could if you were Shah Rukh Khan.

Jack is the kind of person that could come across as magnetic to a certain audience, and insufferable to another. This could partially be blamed on Apa’s one-note performance. Even when Jack pulls Heather into mini-adventures along the way, their interactions have all the frisson of a guided tour of a mausoleum in peak summer. By the time he pulls his ultimate move, you’d have already made your mind up about him. And this hurts the film’s third act. Heather makes certain decisions that seem entirely illogical, and the plot conspires to reverse past inconsistencies. The Map that Leads to You ends exactly how you imagine it would. It all makes very little sense, and the pathos feels unearned. But if momentary catharsis is what you’re after, it might be just the fix you need.

The Map that Leads to You
Director – Lasse Hallström
Cast – Madelyn Cline, KJ Apa
Rating – 2.5/5